Kirk Kelly, who has served as Hamilton County Schools’ interim superintendent since April, believes he is the most qualified candidate to lead the district, but he wants the school board to conduct a search before choosing him for the job.
“I am interested in becoming the superintendent of Hamilton County, and in the interest of the community and all [who are] involved, I want to go through the search firm process,” Kelly said during a news conference last week.
On Monday, East Hamilton-area residents were given an opportunity to weigh in on the qualities they’d like to see in whoever fills the role.
“This is just one of hopefully many more forums where the taxpayers can come and express what they value and are looking for in our next superintendent,” said school board member Joe Wingate, who along with Hamilton County Commissioner Sabrena Smedley, hosted a public meeting Nov. 14 at East Hamilton Middle/High School.
“I’m hoping that the folks who live in District 7 and others who want to come will have a better understanding of the process of this search,” Wingate added.
However, the points raised at the meeting may be moot: Joe Galloway and David Testerman last week asked that a vote to hire Kelly be added to the school board’s Nov. 17 agenda session.
Along with school board member Kathy Lennon, they voiced support for hiring Kelly during a meeting two weeks ago, but the board was unable to take a vote because the public had not been properly notified of the vote for 15 days, as board policy requires. The board instead voted unanimously during that meeting to hire the search firm Coleman Lew and Associates Inc. to help find the district’s next leader.
Following Galloway and Testerman’s about-face, Kelly said he is honored by the support of Lennon, Galloway and Testerman, but he wants to respect the wishes of all nine school board members and have his name put up against those of other candidates before being hired for the job, to increase transparency.